Live updates: Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill' awaits House vote

CNN

4 days ago

Update:
Date: 4 min ago
Title: Speaker Johnson says he expects final passage of Trump agenda bill later this morning
Content:
Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he expects final passage of the president's sweeping domestic policy bill around 8 a.m. ET, noting that President Donald Trump has been speaking with members throughout the night. Timing for passage of the bill is fluid, however, and it's not yet clear exactly when a final vote will take place.
'He was directly engaged, as he always is, and that was very important. He — members wanted to hear certain assurances from him about what's ahead, what the future will entail, and what we're going to do next, and all of that. And he was very, very helpful in that process,' said Johnson.
'I talked to him multiple times today, tonight, this morning. I mean, he was up, engaged as late as 1am. He may still be up for all I know. He doesn't really sleep a lot, so, you know, directly engaged wanting to know, play by play, what was happening and how he could help and all that.'
Johnson also laid out his estimate for the timeline going forward for the morning.
'The group will go down, get the votes necessary to pass the rule. We'll proceed to debate, probably two to three hours for that. There's an hour allotted, but Leader Jeffries gets a Magic Minute. I think he goes about an hour. Mine will be much shorter than that, and we'll proceed a final vote, and we'll be passing this bill, I expect, maybe around 8, 8:30 this morning, maybe sooner, maybe sooner,' he told reporters.
'We'll be gathering on the floor shortly. I'm going to collect — somebody's driving in, they're about to arrive and we'll be moving forward here shortly,' he added.
Update:
Date: 16 min ago
Title: House GOP holdouts fall in line and agree to bring Trump agenda to floor
Content:
A group of House Republican holdouts fell in line behind President Donald Trump and agreed to allow his agenda to come to the floor — reversing course after days of threatening to block the bill from a final vote.
That includes some House hardliners who have complained that the package would add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, as well as moderate-leaning members who have concerns about Medicaid cuts.
The tally was 219 to 213 with only one GOP no vote: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick.
The House cleared a key procedural hurdle and voted to advance the bill in the early hours of Thursday morning – after House GOP leaders held open the vote on the rule to govern debate for a lengthy period of time as they worked to flip 'no' votes and win over key holdouts.
GOP leaders believe they will now have the votes to actually pass Trump's giant tax and spending cuts package when it does come to a full floor vote, but it is not yet certain. Final passage is expected later Thursday morning, after debate, though timing remains fluid.
Update:
Date: 1 min ago
Title: GOP Rep. Ralph Norman flips, says he will back bill after assurances from Trump
Content:
Rep. Ralph Norman, a conservative who has previously said he was opposed to the Senate-passed version of President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill, said late last night he will back the bill in the procedural vote and final passage, after receiving assurances from Trump that his concerns will be addressed.
'It's the right thing to do at the right time,' Norman told reporters.
Norman said that the president had given conservative holdouts assurances that the green energy tax credits, as well as other conservative priorities, would be 'dealt with' — though Norman refused to say if that would happen by executive order or by future legislative action — during their meeting at the White House yesterday.
Some Republicans have been vocal in their opposition to the Senate's slower timeline to phase out some energy tax credits, and Norman said it was important for them to get assurances on that from the White House.
'We got clarification on what's going to be enforced. We got clarification on how the IRAs were going to be dealt with. We got clarification on the tax cuts — and still we'll be meeting tomorrow on the specifics of it. But no, I feel comfortable with this,' Norman said.
Pressed on how they can trust leadership will continue to take them seriously, if they still fold, Norman said, 'We get the best we can get, and we go as far as we can go to get for the American people, what we need. That's not bluffing. The reason we have credibility, they know we'll vote no.'
He added, 'Now look, this is a game of — and it is a game — of getting the most you can for your consistency. And we're doing that, I'll do that. As long as I'm up here, I'll do that.'